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The George Karl FAQ

January 10, 2017 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

George Karl’s controversial recent book has brought him back into the focus of the NBA. First, he wrote in an excerpt from the book about some issues in Denver with Kenyon Martin and Carmelo Anthony and blamed any problems with dime store psychology: “Kenyon and Carmelo carried two big burdens: all that money and no father to show them how to act like a man.” Later, in an interview for the book, Karl told New York Magazine that Portland’s struggles this year were attribute to Damian Lillard … [Read more...] about The George Karl FAQ

Examining the Three-Point Barrage

December 8, 2016 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

Are NBA teams shooting too many threes? The three-point shot was instituted in 1979-80 and, since then, its use has been going almost straight upwards. To get a concrete sense of how this trend has played out, here is a chart of the average three-pointers made and attempted by the average team per game since … [Read more...] about Examining the Three-Point Barrage

Phil and the Posse

December 2, 2016 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

The big story last week involved an interview that Knicks GM Phil Jackson gave to ESPN, where, per his usual protocol, he was quite candid in his opinions about many things. The big public takeaway from the interview was that Jackson’s comments about LeBron James and his management team (which is comprised of many lifelong friends), which were called LBJ’s “posse.” The consensus was that Jackson’s comment was, at best, disrespectful, and, at worst, subtly racist. Is it fair to criticize … [Read more...] about Phil and the Posse

Quick Thoughts

November 9, 2016 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

Is it too early to draw any conclusions from this season? Of course it is! Over the years, I’ve tried to tell stories and give examples that show not to overreact to small sample sizes. This year our anecdote takes us back to 2001-02. For those who don’t remember, that season the Atlanta Hawks signed Jacque Vaughn to help stabilize their backcourt. Vaughn’s start was monumentally bad. Through the first four games of that season, Vaughn shot 0-22 and followed that up with a 1-5 showing in … [Read more...] about Quick Thoughts

NBA Preview 2016-17

October 25, 2016 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

Well, that offseason quickly. Let’s talk expectations/predictions for 2016-17. Once again, we appear locked in with prohibitive favorites (Golden State and Cleveland) and some legit contenders who might be able to score an upset if everything breaks right. Here’s a quick rundown of the conferences: Eastern Conference The Cavs are still the class of the East and have, by far, the best player in the East in LeBron James. Are there any arguments that the Cavs won’t win the conference? … [Read more...] about NBA Preview 2016-17

NBA’s Unbreakable Records?

September 27, 2016 by Harlan Schreiber Leave a Comment

As the NBA off-season kicks into low gear, this is usually a time we like to take a look at some old-timey stats/stories. To that end, I happened to have revisited Bill Simmons’ old “The Book of Basketball,” just to kill a little time at the beach this summer. The book was written in 2009 and is still entertaining, even though I can never wholly support a book that listed Robert Horry in the top 96 players of all-time. Still, the book is definitely worth reading even now. It is packed … [Read more...] about NBA’s Unbreakable Records?